""There did exist, rumors of, creatures that lived in these woods. It was in one of the history books I used to teach in the towns.""
Night embarks on his fourth supernatural related thriller, and this time, it's a period piece set in 1897, as indicated by a gravestone in the opening scene. The overall theme of the film is a question poised by Night: "What did all those scary monsters in your closet and under your bed REALLY turn out to be?"
The story tells of a village of people that settled in a clearing in the middle of Covington Woods outside of Philadelphia that can't leave cuz of a truce between them, and the monsters that live on the other side of the village boundaries. However, when a villager is gravely injured and requires medicines that can be only found in the towns, one villager must venture into the woods to find a secret path of escape, and armed with the knowledge of the origins of the village.
Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator/Signs/We Own The Night) stars as Luscious Hunt, a quiet & extremely caring villager that keeps to himself more than ever before when a boy dies from lack of medicines that coulda been obtained in the towns that are deemed to be too vile places to venture for anything at all. When noticing that a local mentally handicapped man has picked red berries, he realizes that they don't grow in the village, and that they must've come from elsewhere, and later, he braves the warnings of the village elders and ventures into Covington Woods to find the red berry bush, which brings the monsters upon the town. Although his true intentions for venturing into the woods is revealed to be for a much nobler cause. Though after said sequences, the story of Luscious seems to slow down as the tables turn. This was one of Joaquin's most interesting performances since "Gladiator" in 2000, and he proves to be as appealing in this as is everyone else in the film. But for some reason, he was advertised as the main character, when in fact he only ASSISTS in taking center stage for the first half of the film, and is absent for the second half.
Bryce Dallas Howard (Lady In The Water/daughter of film-maker Ron Howard) makes her film debut as Ivy Walker, a blind woman who has a serious crush on Luscious, but hides it extremely well. She also keeps watch over Noah and the local children. And her sister is the town flirt whom can easily be upset over her love life. It is Ivy that becomes the main character about halfway through, and the real chills start to pour in as she begins her journey through Covington Woods in search of the secret path to the towns. Bryce's performance as the blind Ivy isn't just convincing as hell, but is damn great to watch in the movie!!!!!! I predict that she will go far in her career.
Adrian Brody (The Pianist/King Kong) plays Noah Percy, the handicapped man who doesn't seem to fully understand the threat of the monsters, but understands fully the threat of Luscious marrying Ivy...which has him set in motion devastating events that kick off the second half of the movie. I've only seen Adrian in the 2 films I listed, and I liked his performance in this, though thought that some of it was unintentionally comical at times.
William Hurt (A History Of Violence) plays Edward Walker, father of Ivy, and leader of the group of town elders that decides whether or not any ventures into the towns is to be attempted. His actual admiration for Luscious' bravery is so obvious, that no other villager becomes upset that that he ventured into the woods. THAT is how powerful the presence of Edward is too the others, and how inspiring his attitude can be. Though after the serious injury, desperate times call for desperate measures, and he sends Ivy on a suicidal mission into Covington Woods, armed with the true knowledge of how the village came to be founded. I haven't seen too many of William's movies, but he was excellent in this role! A real knockout performance as an amish village leader. I'll be looking into his other films for sure!
Sigourney Weaver (The "Alien" Quadrilogy/Galaxy Quest/WALL*E) plays Alice Hunt, mother of Luscious who is more than aggravated by Luscious' actions since the death of the boy, but finds his actions of good intentions, and of a kind heart. She seems to have a crush on Edward, and the beginnings of a possible relationship is depicted, though never fully realized. And she's also a member of the group of Elders. Seeing as I haven't seen her in many films, then she was undoubtedly great in this.
Brenden Gleeson (Troy/The Goblet Of Fire) plays an Elder, and father of the boy. He's a very compassionate man, that appreciates Luscious' kind intentions, though finds Edward's actions less than pleasing. This was a good role for him, and I too seek out his other films.
The design of the monsters was originally like a cross between a bear and a badger with a skull head, and didn't work out at all. The finalized version however was perfect, and required no tune ups. The red cloak signified the fear of the villagers, and the sticks that they were made of blended them in with their surroundings. They were the best original movie monsters in a long time in my honest opinion.
Putting the actors through a boot camp to be more believable in their roles was a good choice, as it made their performances seem that much more authentic. As did the fact that a real village was constructed on location. THAT was great!!!!!!!! Although it woulda been better to see one of the red cloaked monsters against a field of snow. (which was depicted in one of the storyboard pictures}
As good as this movie was, the first half did seem a bit too slow, but the twist coming in over halfway didn't bother me in the slightest. Night coulda introduced the twist earlier, and made it worse, but he waited for the right moment to depict it in flashback form in Ivy's head. And those scenes of her alone in the woods were definitely the creepiest of any of Night's films. It's just that there's something about the woods that beckons out something strange to happen, and this movie does it beautifully!
However, revealing the second twist right after the incident towards the end was a bad decision in my opinion. For after the reveal, there's no real reason to continue watching the movie, since you know exactly what's gonna happen, and that takes away a bit from the overall rating in my book.
Overall, this was a great period piece that needed some tune-ups, but was overall a great film!!! And it fits perfectly in Night's series of out there movies.
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